Safety issues at Scituate’s Gates School

Funding for a feasibility study for Gates Middle School, located on 1st Parish Road in Scituate, is up for debate at Special Town Meeting on Nov. 13. The historic part of the school was initially built in 1916, soon followed by additions in 1939, 1952, and 1959. Town residents hope to either renovate the school or move the school to another location in the town.
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Jessica Bartlett for the Boston Globe

The gym locker rooms in Gate's School are too small for handicap access, making the school at risk of a fine if someone files a complaint.
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Jessica Bartlett for the Boston Globe

Jen Morrison, a local parent and member of "Friends of Scituate's Future", takes groups of parents and concerned citizens on a tour of the school, pointing out fire doors that are broken and propped open, outside doors that are manually locked from the inside, and classrooms that have no working windows.
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Jessica Bartlett for the Boston Globe

Morrison holds up a box of baking soda, which the teacher has labeled as fire extinguisher. The classroom, a Home Ec room complete with 4-5 ovens and stoves, has no sprinkler system and no working windows, Morrison said.
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Jessica Bartlett for the Boston Globe

Manuel locks on all the doors need to be put on every night and taken off every morning. As a result, the school does not have locked doors during the daytime. If there is an emergency or a danger in the area during the day, the manual locks need to be put on one by one.
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Jessica Bartlett for the Boston Globe

A majority of the two dozen fire doors in the building, meant toautomatically shut close in case of a fire to contain flames, do not work and are propped open for egress throughout the building.
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Jessica Bartlett for the Boston Globe

Though the boiler is fairly new in the building, the heatingsystem itself is old. According to Jen Morrison, co-chair of Friends of Scituate's Future, children complain that their allergies and asthma are worse in school due to the air quality.
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Jessica Bartlett for the Boston Globe

Lockers are too small to be of much use to children, Morrison said, and their placement is such that kids have no way to get to their lockers and into their classroom in the three minutes they have between classes.
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Jessica Bartlett for the Boston Globe

According to students who attended Gates several years ago, the heaters, when turned on for the first time in the winter, emit large amounts of dust.
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Jessica Bartlett for the Boston Globe

Morrison pointed out the exposed piping throughout the building, which is also layered in dust.
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Jessica Bartlett for the Boston Globe

An addition to the building in 1959, known as the "C-wing", does not have a foundation and is attached directly to the main part of the building. Because the addition was meant to be a temporary solution, water is starting to seep in the exterior envelope of the building, Morrison said.
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Jessica Bartlett for the Boston Globe

According to Morrison, Gates classrooms are not equipped to handle today's classroom needs. Desks were not made for group learning, as is the set up now, and classrooms don't have enough square footage for the number of children in them, Morrison said.
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